SAFETY inspectors are to investigate claims one worker was hurt and another narrowly missed serious injury at Jaguar's new production line in Birmingham.

In one incident this week, a track worker allegedly "almost had his head taken off" as a sudden snag caused a car body he was working on to start to swing.

Although the problem at the Castle Bromwich plant was a "near-miss", it followed a similar event shortly before in which an employee was struck by a car body and needed to go to the company surgery.

It was understood he had treatment for bruising to his back and the line was stopped for about an hour while internal safety officials checked out the problem, which happened at about 8am on Monday.

Both incidents occurred on the final trim and assembly section for the top-of-the-range XJ executive model.

The facilities were those transferred from the Birmingham site's sister Browns Lane factory in Coventry where production ended earlier this year.

Safety fears over the new track led one whistleblower at the plant to call in the Health and Safety Executive to investigate.

The insider told the Birmingham Mail: "People feel it is very unsafe. The man at the HSE said someone else had complained from here a few weeks earlier."

An HSE spokeswoman said: "We have had a complaint from the Jaguar plant and it will be investigated in due course."

Jaguar spokesman Ken McConomy said: "There was an incident and our manufacturing engineering team have been working with employees. There has been no repeat of the issue. We will of course co-operate fully with the Health and Safety Executive during any investigation."